Painting depicting the god Hercules confronting the Hydra, a mythical creature. Amidst towering, rocky cliffs, Hercules stands on the left of the painting, dressed in clothing that exposes his figure. He looks to the right, where the seven-headed hydra rears up, bearing its teeth. A nude figure of a woman is on the ground in front of the Hydra, and an orange sun peeks from behind red clouds in the background.

Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra

Gustave Moreau · 1875–76

View at the AIC ↗

Palette

Dark chocolate
42% of the image
Black · text contrast 16.0:1

Bistre
29% of the image
Brown · text contrast 11.9:1

Taupe
12% of the image
Gold & ochre · text contrast 4.4:1

Sepia
9% of the image
Brown · text contrast 7.3:1

Fawn
7% of the image
Gold & ochre · text contrast 6.8:1

Tan
1% of the image
Gold & ochre · text contrast 5.1:1

Colours measured by this site from the museum image (k-means in CIELAB). Names are the nearest in our own list and describe how the colour looks, not the pigment. Text on each chip uses whichever of black or white contrasts more (WCAG ratio shown). How

Details

Artist: Gustave Moreau
Date: 1875–76
Type: Painting
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 179.3 × 154 cm (70 9/16 × 60 5/8 in.); Framed: 226.7 × 201.9 cm (89 1/4 × 79 1/2 in.)
Place: France
Period: 19th century
Themes: Landscapes · Mountains · Myths and legends
Main colour: Brown · lightness 26, colourfulness 14

Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Mrs. Eugene A. Davidson. Museum record. Public domain: the museum's is_public_domain field read true when we last checked (2026-10-25); image released under CC0. Licence rules

Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra

Palette

Details

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